Jan + Anni’s Tractor Shed Wedding

An eccentric doo.

 Upon completing weddings, I reach out to couples and ask if I can highlight their story on the website. Responses vary from ‘yes of course’ to ‘no we’d rather you didn’t ‘. Either or, we are in absolute support of your feelings about it. Anni + Jan have gone one step further and edited down their own version for this post.

Two incredible women, who I am incredibly chuffed to know and simply stoked to have been asked to contribute towards their day…

When Jan and Anni met

Jan and Anni met almost 24 years ago at a friend’s Birthday party. As Anni walked into the party, she heard someone say,‘ the problem is that men are stronger than women’. ‘Oh no’, said Jan, ‘we’ve had push up competitions at work and I can do more than anyone’. Hearing disbelieving sounds and seeing raised eyebrows, Jan dropped to the deck and started doing push-ups - proper push-ups.

Anni was captivated, not only by Jan’s push up prowess, but also by her integrity and ability to just be herself. Jan was taken with Anni’s intellect, warmth and humour. Their friendship grew during bike rides, picnics by the lake, dinner out and visits to the movies. Over time, that friendship morphed into a different kind of love.

The Tractor Shed Wedding

 This was Jan & Anni’s second wedding. The first was a ‘mock’ wedding at Tilba Tilba Waterfront Cottages in 2007.

 Jan and Anni dreamed it up as payback at their next annual holiday for Anni’s brother-in-law Bob (dec), who had previously told them that, ‘he didn’t believe in such things‘ (same sex relationships) but that he ‘really liked Jan’. So off to the op-shop they went for veils, plastic flowers and white blouses.  Anni’s sister Patricia assisted in drafting ‘co-dependency’ vows interspersed with Wicca incantations and was the ‘Mistress of Ceremony’. Anni’s other Sister, Elaine sewed garters for their three dogs while and playing traitor, telling her husband Bob what was afoot. He got into the spirit of it dressing up as a hippy Bob Marley type Minister, ready to officiate. It was a hilarious event followed by a feast and shared with the owners and family members of Tilba Waterfront Cottages and other people holidaying there at the same time.

 Sixteen years later Jan & Anni decided on an intimate ‘real’ wedding with family and close friends attending – this time in the tractor shed on their beautiful rural property. Although a very informal wedding was always planned, Jan & Anni upped the ante at the last moment, deciding to bring the past into the future and wear the very veils and plastic flowers they had worn to their mock wedding.

After thoroughly amusing and confusing their guests as they walked down the road to the tractor shed desperately grabbing their veils as treacherous gusts of wind tried to blow them off and across the paddock, Jan & Anni prepared to enter the tractor shed for the formal part of the event. The veils and plastic flowers were discarded.

A huge thank you to Sally who conducted our ceremony with much warmth, care and respect. We could not have wished for a better celebrant.

Huge thanks also to family and friends present and who were witnesses, ring bearers, photographer, MC, music organisers, poetry writers, and speech presenters.

Everybody had a great day celebrating the real thing and enjoyed the delicious feast that followed.

Jan & Anni.